LOVE LETTERS By Kelly Klapstein

by Kelly Klapstein

Welcome to "Love Letters" a series of lettering articles written and illustrated by Kelly Klapstein. In each issue, Kelly will guide you through easy-to-follow tips and tricks as you learn the beautiful art of hand lettering.

Negative Space Lettering

When it comes to hand lettering, we always think about writing words by outlining and filling in letters. But have you ever thought about drawing “around” the words instead? There are countless creative ways to produce negative space letters. Let’s look at a simple “zentangle” approach to make some Christmas cards and tags with markers.

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1. On white cardstock, use a pencil to lightly draw the block letters for a word.

2. Choose a shape, such as a circle, and one colour marker (or more) to draw the shape in different sizes. You can fill in the shapes or not.

3. Draw your shapes very close to the edges of your letters, so that the negative space word is distinct and legible. 4. Erase your pencil lines, and you are done! Adhere to a folded cardstock base for a card, or add some ribbon for a tag.

This is a really relaxing, meditative way to make cards and tags. Take your time drawing your shapes. They don’t have to be perfect. Try using a different colour cardstock instead of white. You could also use this technique to create names as placecards on your holiday table!